FO: Shopping Tunic

Another Twinkle sweater. This was a real quickie! It only took about 3 nights of knitting to complete. Loved the design of this and the pattern was very clever. The sweater is knit in the round, in one piece, and then flipped inside out so that the purl side faces out. I finally got to use the Soft Chunky yarn that I had stalked since the book came out, and it was worth the wait. I am only sorry that I couldn't have waited to use it for the Best Friend Cardigan. It is so soft, drapey, cushy, in fabulous colors and decent yardage for the chunk. It has a lovely pearlescent sheen that makes it look as luxurious as it feels. Obviously, I like this sweater. It's the first Twinkle sweater that didn't have to grow on me before I wanted to wear it outside the house

I love the pockets.

Details: Shopping Tunic from Twinkle's Big City Knits. Used 3.25 skeins of Soft Chunky in "Urchin". I knit the xs size and lengthened both the body and the cowl by 2" each. If I hadn't added to the length by 4", I may not have needed to break into the 4th skein. The pattern actually calls for 7 skeins of the stuff, but I learned from this blogger's experience http://knitlit.blogspot.com/2007/03/twinkle-dust.html#links, that I could get away with 4 skeins. Thanks for saving me some $$$!

I got my spring/summer 07 Vogue Knitting and have fallen in love with this:

I'm such a sucker for knit dresses. Actually, I am a big fan of dresses and wear one almost every day. I really like to feel feminine, but I also find them comfortable and they make getting getting dressed for the day really easy- one piece and then you're done, a no-brainer. So I could see myself wearing it a lot. I would make it shorter since this would most likely be longer than knee length on a shorty like myself. I think the Filatura di Crosa "Zara" that i used for my capecho would be perfect for this, light and soft yet durable. I'm gonna swatch it up and see what happens!

FO: Best Friend Cardigan

So here's my finished Best Friend Cardigan, or as I like to call it, my Gorilla Smurf sweater, which is what I felt like when I first put it on. It didn't help that my two coworkers gave me the crazy look when I wore it to work on Friday. After that dose of humiliation, I felt like frogging it, but it is slowly growing on me. The chunky yarn and chubby seams make my shoulders about 4 inches broader, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.


Then, while my man was taking these photos, I remembered that I have the perfect belt for this. Voila! More feminine, less gorilla smurf, right? I think I just need to be careful about how I wear it, and try to keep the bottom half of my outfit as streamlined as possible, i.e. cigarette pants, skinny jeans, pencil skirt. I was wearing a poofy patterned skirt when I left the house on Friday, which may have been cause for my coworkers' befuddled looks.

I think I'm going to keep her!

Details: 6 skeins of Cascade's Lana Grande (double stranded) on size 19 circs. I had barely 1 foot of yarn left over after seaming. This was really quick and fun to make. I knit it up single stranded first, then decided I didn't like it, frogged the whole thing, and then knit it up again and it still took only about one week to complete. I got the jumbo buttons at Britex downtown.

I just picked up another 6 skeins of soft chunky at YarnPaperScissors in Burlingame. The owner bought way more colors and skeins than Imagiknit, which suprised me, because it is a much smaller store. I bought a nice yellow called "Canary" that I am going to knit the hoodie with. Yippee for quickee chunkees!

Now that I am starting to plan my cross country move, I 'm getting a little sentimental about San Francisco. Also, I have a good reason to finally buy this necklace that I have always coveted:

My diamond would be over San Francisco, of course.

I think I saw it about a year ago on daily candy, loved it, forgot about, and now I need it! They are available here http://www.stateofmine.com/ and you can get it customized for any state and city.

Twinkle Twinkle, NYC

I went by Imagiknit today with a hunch that Twinkle had landed, but it still hadn't arrived when I checked at noon. Well my hunch was correct, but it was only four hours premature. I got the call later in the afternoon, so I sped over so that I could get first dibs on colors. Unfortunately, they only ordered 4 skeins per color of the soft chunky, and only in about 6 colors. I can't blame them, it's not really a spring or summer weight yarn. I took home 4 skeins of Urchin, which I thought was black when I looked online, but is really a deep dark gorgeous purple.

There's my Soft Chunky, posing in front of the Best Friend Cardigan.

I really wanted to buy 6 skeins, so that I can make the groovy sweater dress or the hoodie. Would it be so bad if I bought skeins from another dyelot? I could be sneaky and use a separate dyelot for all the ribbing sections, or would that be too stripey and weird? After looking at the patterns again, I see that there aren't many that I can do with only 4 skeins, except for the Best Friend Cardigan, which I have already almost completed in Lana Grande.

My wool winder could hardly handle the Twinkle jumbo skeins.

I've got big news: my man just got his acceptance letter from Columbia University! We'll be moving to NYC this summer. It's going to be so hard to leave our beautiful apartment, my sweet job, my cute scooter that I go everywhere in, all of our nice furniture, not to mention our friends and San Francisco itself! I'm excited for the new adventure.

Holy crap! We're moving to NYC!

FO: Twiggy Tunic

Here's my finished Twiggy Tunic, with a disclaimer: my boyfriend took amazing pictures of this. I have to admit that it is really not very flattering, doesn't fit well, and is difficult to wear.

Details: I used Berroco Bling Bling yarn that I bought on closeout about a year ago. It is a cotton/acrylic blend with gold flecks. I knit the xs size on US 15 needles.

The fit is drapey and loose to the point where it actually slips off my shoulder, and could potentially completely fall off. I have tried to remedy this by attempting to shrink it in the washing machine in the hot cycle. No luck. This cotton sack is only going to get bigger, I'm afraid. The sleeves are especially big around my shoulder/bicep area. I know that a lot of people are concerned about the 22" finished measurement of this sweater, so let my experience soothe your fears. My 22" sweater stretched to about 36" and stayed there, which is unfortunate given my wimpy 29" bust.

I did enjoy knitting it, especially since it took about a week to complete. I still want to knit more from Twinkle's book, specifically the Best Friend Cardigan. I might pick up some chunky wool today, which seems sorta crazy given that it has been 80 degrees in San Francisco for the last four days.

*Update: On the craftster knitalong, someone suggested that I crochet a single chain inside the base of the neckline ribbing to pull in the color. This totally worked! I wore it to work on Friday, and I ran around all day without having to tug it back up onto my shoulders. Yay!

Of Twinkle and Capechos

Now that the capecho is off my needles, I'm on the hunt for my next project. I just got the new Twinkle book from Amazon and it is gorgeous.

I am still wavering between patterns, and it is difficult to get started because the recommended yarn is not available yet. Twinkle, aka Wenlan Chia, has her own new line of yarn, which is, of course, what all the patterns are knit with. I am really interested in what the Soft Chunky yarn is all about, and how it compares to Cascade Magnum. I really like get up close and personal with a yarn before I can decide whether I want to use it, or what could be a potential better alternative.

I am leaning towards starting with a pattern that calls for Cruise, a silk/cotton blend, and using something from my stash as a sub. In the meantime, I can wait for Soft Chunky to be released so that I can order some to make either the Best Friend Cardigan, Groovy Sweater Dress, or the Twinkle Hoodie.

P.S. I started a knitalong for this book on craftster.

My favorites:

And my capecho! I just love it! It fits really nicely and goes very well under my new spring coat. I have worn it a lot recently, and a surprising number of people recognize the pattern. Last week, I went into Noe Knit wearing my capecho, and the women who work there were so excited to see it knitted up that Susie, the owner, busted out her camera and took photos! I was a little flustered, but totally flattered overall. You all made me blush! Thank you!

*Update: Susie put the photos on the Noe Knit Blog! Please don't look too closely at my face (yikes!), focus on the sweater!

FO: Norah Gaughn capecho from Vogue winter 06/07

I had so much fun with this pattern! I was completely obsessed from the beginning, and couldn't wait to finish each of the little pentagrams. The pattern is wiggity-wacked, though. There is a long chronicle of ill-fated, ill-fitting capechos on this craftster knitalong: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=143106.0

I knitted size xs with Filatura di Crosa "Zara" on size 5 needles, instead of worsted yarn on size 9s as recommended. I also moved the button over about 4 inches and added a second button to secure the neckband. Before changing the button placement, the neckband was really droopy and the fabric bunched under my armpits.

Basic Cable Hat i.e. Aggressive Stashbusting

I bought another skein to swatch the Vogue pentagram sweater with. I could tell right away that it wasn't right for the sweater, but I did fall in love with the yarn and had to knit it up asap. It is called "Silkdream" by Lang yarns. It was reccommended to me by the owner of Yarn Paper Scissors, a new yarn shop in Burlingame.

It has been freezing lately in SF, and without the yardage for gloves or a scarf, I decided on the Basic Cable hat from Stitch n' Bitch Nation. Pretty quick and easy, except for the pom pom. This is the first time I have ever made one and it sure was a pain in the butt to pull the yarn through the circle about 200 times. I do love the hat, though.

No News is Good News

No blogging for a while because I have been plugging away at Saffron Cables. I'm in the home stretch now.



But I've been cheating again... I fell in love with this:



I couldn't help but do a little yarn research and bought a couple skeins and did a couple of swatches!



The left swatch is karabella aurora 8. I think this is similar to the berroco merino that is called for. The stitches are clear, the gauge is correct, but I am worried about how dense the little sweater will be. The second is rowan kid classic. The gauge is a little bit off, the stitches are not as distinct, but it is so light and fluffy and fuzzy. And I love the color. Maybe I should try it again on a smaller needle? I'm not sure which I prefer.

Vintage knitting mags

One of my favorite customers came by the shop and dropped of a bag full of musty old knitting and crochet magazines from the sixties. Odor aside, the patterns are amazing! The mags are almost entirely full of minidresses, tunics, and knitted suits. They are on loan to me, so I will be very busy scanning for the next few days.



The Vogue magazine patterns feature some serious sequins and beading.






















I played with my fancy new toy yesterday. In the spirit of Vogue fall/winter '67, here's some pretty pictures of my favorite shiny and sparkly shoes.

My Pretty Pink Camera

My birthday present came a few days early this year.



She's more than just a pretty face: she has 7.2 megapixels, super steady shot, an enormous lcd screen, and a long battery life. I'm just starting to get the hang of her. Expect more frequent and higher quality images to come!

My First Fair Isle

I finally got my yarn for the Vogue Fair Isle U-neck sweater. I am a little disappointed with the shade of grey that I chose as the main color. I was expecting it to be a little lighter, and every time I look at the yarn I think of Legos. It is exactly the shade of grey Legos. It's my own fault for not having enough patience to order a color card to choose the yarn from. I am having a lot of fun with the fair isle knitting and am slowly learning how to moderate the tension properly. I started out too tight, then overcompensated by stranding too loosely.

Saffron Cable Update

I have finished the first of three(?) pattern repeats of Saffron Cables. While finishing up the last few rows, I noticed that the blanket pictured in the magazine actually has FOUR REPEATS of the pattern. This is a bit alarming. Is the blanket misrepresented in the photo, or are the instructions wrong?


See those big diamonds filled with seed stitch? I count four!


Evidence A: This first repeat consumed 5 of the 18 balls of Berkshire, including the seed stitch border, which used up about one ball. Based on this, a blanket made with three repeats will require 14 balls, and a blanket made with 4 repeats will require 18 balls! This leads me to believe that the pattern is incorrect, and that the photo is correct.





Evidence B: The seed stitch border measures 3.5". One unblocked pattern repeat is 14". An unblocked blanket with three repeats will measure 49", while a blanket with four will measure 63". My gauge is looser than the pattern gauge, so my width is already wider than specified, so I expect my finished blanket to be slightly longer than the 60" specified in the pattern. Thus, the 63" blanket with FOUR REPEATS seems to be what Kathy Zimmerman intended.

It's still the same amount of yarn, but it sure seems like a lot more work to repeat this thing FOUR TIMES! If I get to the third repeat and I still have a ton of yarn, I'll take that as a further hint that it's time to buck up and do one more. What if I run out of yarn during the fourth repeat? Does WEBS still have another skein of the correct dyelot? Uh oh.

P.S. I ordered yarn for the Vogue Fair Isle U-neck. Yippee!

***Update: I sent my concerns to Interweave Knits, and they responded that the design should have four repeats, not three.

Stalled and Stumped

Rusted Root is going into the frog pond. I decided that I'm just not that into her. I kept trying to make it work, but I've given up. I ripped backed the lace leaf panel and turned it into a diamond lace, but it wasn't right. Then, I ripped back the diamond lace and knit it as embossed diamonds. After dropping those stitches back 3 times to reknit, the panel looks much worse for wear, and I don't think blocking can repair the ravages of my indecision. I was never pleased with the yarn, either.

So I am in project limbo now. I just bought some Berroco Bling Bling yarn on closeout and I really want to use it, but I don't feel like working with cotton right now, and I have no idea what to do with it yet! I have to buy more yarn then, right?

Here is my top contender:




















I have never knit with multiple colors before, so this would be an opportunity to learn something new. I'm thinking shades of grey with red accents. Maybe I'll try Knitpick's new Telemark yarn.

A new issue of Vogue is coming out this week. Maybe I should wait for it to come out before I make any purchases. I really like these two designs that I saw on their preview page:







The first looks like a Twinke sweater, and might be a really quick knit on biggie needles. I also love the pockets! The second is really sweet, but the middle portion of stockinette is boring me just by looking at it. Should I wait? Maybe I should try to bust out a sock or two in the meantime just to keep me busy until the new issue comes out.

Finished Objects: Manos Mini and Simplicity 6407

My Manos Mini! It seems like I finished it before I even began.



Most of this dress was knitted on an hour and a half drive down to Santa Cruz last weekend. I ended up using size 11 needles for the dress and switched to 8s for the sleeve ribbing. Also, I only used 3 skeins of Manos! It think it is finally cold enough to start wearing this.


I also did some sewing on Tuesday, which is my day off. I bought a couple of patterns on Ebay a couple of weeks ago, including this stunner:



I was really attracted to the pockets and the dolman sleeves. I LOVE this dress. It is so comfortable and I love the mystery material- some kind of stiff synthetic jersey. I shop at Discount Fabrics, and often their labeling of fabrics is a bit mystifying.



This is the first time I have sewn in a very long time, except for some simple alterations here and there. Naturally, I stained the thing while cooking on the second day I wore it, so I may have to make another.



I have to add a picture of my new shoes! These are from the shop, by Richard Tyler, but they look like the YSL shoes that cost about 7 times more. I love the brown croc against the purple dress.

My Manos Mini-dress and More

About a week ago, I saw an amazing knitted dress on Craftster an I just couldn't stop thinking about it. Then, on Thursday, I walked into my local yarn shop, Noe Knit, and saw this amazing emerald green shade of Manos de Uruguay. I visited the yarn on Friday, and then again on Sunday. On Monday, I bought a skein, and started swatching for a Manos Mini-dress!




This will be my first time knitting without a pattern. I hope it turns out to be something that I will want to wear, especially since the Manos yarn is not cheap. I see myself wearing it in the fall opaque tights and boots. I am knitting it at a loose gauge on size 13 needles, so if all goes well, it should be a quickie. I am doing a top-down raglan, and have already taken the arm hole stitches off the needles.

I am a few more inches into my saffron cables. I have started the fifth of 18 skeins and am still on schedule. Here's my slow progress:



Rusted root is going slowly. It's in my purse and I get a couple rows done here and there, but nothing photo-worthy. I changed the leaf lace into a diamond pattern and am switching to bigger needles when I am on the sleeve stitches, so that they will be extra poofy. The needle switching is tedious and can take some of the blame for my sluggish pace.